Review
The Daily Star
thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=193414
Nameera Ahmed
"a compelling heart-rendering read which develops striking imagery in itself... biting portrayal... an evocative tapestry of deep emotional scars, broken lives that brings to life characters that will linger long after the book is read...touches the soul."

The Silent and the Lost
Alex Salim McKensie, a war baby of the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence, is adopted by the McKensies, an American family that has lost their only son in Vietnam. Years later, Alex falls in love with Sangeeta Rai, but their happiness is threatened when the enigma of his birth casts a dark shadow over their relationship.
The Silent and the Lost opens with the wedding of Alex and Sangeeta in Brentwood, California on a sunny Saturday in 1997, then travels back into the boiling cauldron of political clashes of East Pakistan in early 1971. Through the eyes of newlywed Nahar Sultana, her husband, student activist Rafique Chowdhury, and their friends we are immersed into the nine months of revolution that created Bangladesh.
On March 25, 1971, Nahar, Rafique, Nazmul and the Rahmans find themselves in the center of Operation Searchlight at Dacca University. Miraculously surviving, they escape to Sheetalpur village. Longing for vengeance and freedom, Nazmul and Rafique leave for the Mukthi Bahini guerrilla camps in Agartala, India. In a twist of fate, in a brutal family betrayal, Nahar is captured by the Pakistani Army. Destitute and in utter despair, tortured and mad, Nahar grips desperately to her last scintilla of hope—Rafique’s return.
Two generations spread across two continents, thousands of miles apart, are brought jarringly together when Alex begins his search for answers to his beginnings. He discovers that his own struggle for happiness is inextricable from the history that he finds himself part of: the genocide that in 1971 ultimately created out of East Pakistan the new nation of Bangladesh.
Set in a pivotal point of time, The Silent and the Lost powerfully chronicles the history of a revolutionary change in the socio-political landscape of the sub-continent, and takes us on a sinuous journey into a passionate and breathtaking untold account of heroism and betrayal, family and friendship, love and anguish—of the lives of the characters and millions of others swept up in the unfolding unrest, mayhem and suppressed genocide.

ABU ZUBAIR was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
He lived through the horrific nine months of the Bangladesh War of Independence and wrote 'Memoirs of a Child,' an essay describing his experience during 1971, that won the Shankar Children's Award from the Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi in 1973.
In 1974, at the age of fourteen he was awarded a scholarship to Phillips Academy Andover, Massachusetts. Since then he has been living in the USA.
He holds degrees from Boston University in Engineering. He lives in Southern California.
The Silent and the Lost is his debut novel set against the Bangladesh War of Independence in 1971.

From Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Abu-Zubair/e/B005C5IJ6A/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Hello again...dekhun bhais and apus, opened a good thread, with great subject matter, but Zero interest....it is embarrasing...I thought you all will all over this topic...Amakey aar lojja diben naa...ekhono shomoi achey quickly novel-ta porun ebong thread-e post korun asap. Thank you.

By the way it is not related to the topic directly but I would just like to mention that the Gandhis of India (Not Mahatma, but Indira, Sanjay, Rajiv and Soniya) I find them the most important leaders of modern India. I think Mrs Indira Gandhi was one of the greatest leaders of modern history. In me I feel a great sense of gratitude, admiration and deep respect for her as I see her as the first friend of our people and our Bangladesh.

ahnaf

July 21, 2011, 01:09 AM

Nah..bhaiya.. Ei writer ke chini na..

Rabz

July 21, 2011, 01:18 AM

Thanks Javed bhai.
Interested in the book.
Inshallah will have some time to read soon.

ajkal ki ekhono barcode chire boi churi kora jay agekar moton bochada?
Why even bother with such complications? Just borrow the book from the library, don't return it, and march up to the librarian and ask angrily why it's still showing up as "due" on your account when you "returned it a week ago." It's a classic confidence (con) trick based on the perception that guilty people will never raise any issue associated with their "crime", not too mention sound so angry about it.

Disclaimer: Just in case someone was silly enough to take my comments seriously, don't do this.

Zeeshan

July 25, 2011, 12:34 AM

Why even bother with such complications? Just borrow the book from the library, don't return it, and march up to the librarian and ask angrily why it's still showing up as "due" on your account when you "returned it a week ago." It's a classic confidence (con) trick based on the perception that guilty people will never raise any issue associated with their "crime", not too mention sound so angry about it.

Disclaimer: Just in case someone was silly enough to take my comments seriously, don't do this.

:)

I checked out a book on heraldry and sure enough upon opening it at home found that some jerk tore some pages from there before. Now when I return it I will have to report the damage. And guess what uncle? I have a feeling that they might have a feeling that I tore the pages and trying to give a double bluff. :sigh:

Pragmatically speaking, college libraries are very forgiving and they don't have 'critical noakhallia' brain like me/ours. :lol:

Zeeshan

July 26, 2011, 10:38 PM

I saw the ad for the book in Little Dhaka. Apparently it's a new release huh? Available everywhere from bn to amazon...

bujhee kom

July 26, 2011, 11:32 PM

Yeah brand new book...and this is the man...Have you seen him signing autographs?
Mr. Abu Zubair
http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/31/b4/e8227c424e8a0ad8986c40.L._V157935600_.jpg

Alchemist

July 26, 2011, 11:56 PM

My sincere apologies Javed bhai for not posting in this thread earlier. And thank you so much for sharing info. on this book and writer. It was a news to me.

I'm sure it will be a great read. Once I read it, I'll share my thoughts with you.

On a different note, have you read 'A Golden Age' by Tahmima Anam? The wiki link is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Golden_Age

bujhee kom

July 27, 2011, 12:17 AM

Thank you dear Iftekhar Alchemist bro! No, I haven't read Tahmina Amin yet, I will be very soon, thank you bro for the link, I am checking it out right now..

Also thank you dear Rabz, Shafie and Ahnaf bros! If you ever get a chance, get hold of a copy give it a shot, see what you think of Abu Zubair's wiritng.